A Clockwork Orange

Stanley Kubrick’s 1960s and early 1970s work was brilliant. He made film making an art form – to the dismay of the cookie-cutter loving movie public who only wanted to see the latest summer blockbuster or the latest smash-’em-up. Kubrick didn’t make films for these kind of people. To want to watch a Kubrick film, you had to have a desire to see how great film making was performed. You not only had to have the fortitude to allow him to indulge his art, but you had to allow him to lead you down the path he was forging. He made watching a film an entirely new experience, for you didn’t just sit there and watch – you became involved.

To put it bluntly, you had to open your mind and think about what you were watching. A Stanley Kubrick film is a thinking person’s film. I know that most people go to the theatre for some good old escapism, so that they don’t have to think. There’s nothing wrong with that. But there is also nothing wrong with being made to think about the film you are watching. We aren’t robots. I refuse to believe that whenever someone enters a theatre, their mind switches off. Maybe you don’t want to think about the state of society and the world you live in when you watch a film – but Stanley Kubrick forces you to so that we don’t become robots and our minds don’t turn to mush.

Kubrick’s portfolio around the turn of the decade of the 1960s was some of the best film making ever made. After A Clockwork Orange, he only made four films over the next 30 years. The time between those films also became longer and longer as he tinkered with them in post-production in search of perfection. This was unfortunate, as his greatness could have been accentuated by many more of his films. A Clockwork Orange was his last brilliant film. Familiar Kubrick futuristic cubism mixed with a great soundtrack is only part of this success story. Kubrick challenges many of society’s dark issues – violence, rape and psychotherapy. In doing so, he challenges the audience to deal with these issues. It is a testament to his courage to take on these issues in a major studio release.

Those who took offense at this film and those who claim to have committed acts similar to those in the film are the people who Kubrick was making this film about – byproducts of a failed society. Disturbing? Yes. Thought-provoking? Oh yes. This is not a comedy, but Kubrick’s dark humour (prevalent in most of his films) is wonderful. Malcom McDowell’s Alex is a perfect picture of a man so tuned in to what he does that he has a complete lack of empathy – a disease now rampant in the 21st century.